The Disney machinery does not stop. Waiting for Elemental to hit theaters on July 14, the animated Pixar film directed by Peter Sohn that closed the Cannes festival and brings together inhabitants of fire, water, earth, and air in a peculiar city, this morning it was released. Exclusively presented in Barcelona the first images of what will be the great House of Mouse film for this 2023, just when the hundred years of its creation have been completed.
It is entitled Wish: The power of desires and the audience that attended the event this Tuesday at Cinesa Diagonal Mar, including a hundred film and animation students, was able to watch twenty minutes of footage from a film that goes precisely on wishes and whose premiere in theaters is scheduled for November 24.
And what is peculiar about this story that pays tribute to the centennial of Disney? To begin with, it is inspired by several of his most iconic films, as Jennifer Lee, creative director of The Walt Disney Animation Studios, stated during the presentation of the film, which is part of the celebration of the Cineurope convention at the CCIB. . And that inspiration reaches the Iberian Peninsula, with settings that drink from the influence of the Alhambra in Granada, the Mosque of Córdoba or the Real Alcázar in Seville.
The film is set in the kingdom of Rosas, a place where wishes come true and where Asha lives, an optimistic 17-year-old girl with her mother, her grandfather Saba and their pet, a friendly goat named Valentino. And the powerful king Magnificent is in charge of monitoring wishes and making them come true, although not all of them, because when Asha asks him to make her grandfather’s wish come true, who is turning one century old, he will deny her the illusion, arguing that it is a dangerous wish. Will it be that long?
It is at that moment when the protagonist climbs the huge tree where she used to go with her father as a child to observe the stars when she makes a wish so powerful that a cosmic force responds. Thereafter, a fun gold star takes over the action and… that’s as far as we can read.
The film is directed by Chris Buck -artificer along with Jennifer Lee of the success of Frozen and Frozen II- and Fawn Veerasunthorn, with the voices of Ariana DeBose in the role of Asha and Chris Pine as the greedy king. Those attending the event have been able to listen to two of the seven songs that Julia Michaels has composed for the film and they sound very good.
Asha has a close friend who goes with a cane and seven other friends in a nod to the seven dwarfs from Snow White. Lee, who in ‘Wish’ is in charge of the script and executive production, has pointed out that the film, a project that has taken five years to carry out and is still not finished, “combines computer animation with classic watercolor.” , stressing that he loves this “hybrid model”.
She considers herself “very lucky” to have had many opportunities to dedicate herself to animation – she landed at Disney in 2011 and co-wrote the script for Wreck It Ralph – and, despite admitting that on many occasions she was the only woman in the meetings, “I let my ego at the door, I focused on work, I overcame my fears and I listened to constructive criticism”. Lee emphasizes the importance of the script in the creative process, she trusts her imagination, says that it’s not always easy to get inspiration when you’re writing, and maintains that it is necessary for the entire team to be committed to the story. “The comunication is the key”.
Your wish for Wish? “I hope it means a return of families to theaters. That is why we have made this film. The Star represents hope, imagination and possibility,” concludes the professional, who does not let go of the third installment of Frozen, announced in the calendar of upcoming Disney releases.
